Sabres Given Black Eye On Parayko, But May Have Dodged A Bullet

The Buffalo Sabres deal with the St. Louis Blues, which reportedly would have brought defenseman Colton Parayko to Buffalo fell apart on Thursday. The two clubs agreed on a trade Wednesday that would have sent 2025 first-rounder Radim Mrtka and a future first rounder to the Blues, but the Stanley Cup winning blueliner declined to waive his no-trade clause.   

The 32-year-old just returned from Italy after winning a silver medal as a member of Team Canada at the Winter Olympics, but is having a subpar season (1 goal, 13 assists) in 58 games with the struggling Blues. The deal may have been understandable from the Sabres perspective – adding a big veteran right-handed blueliner to a predominantly left-handed defensive corps, but would have represented a risk for new GM Jarmo Kekalainen, making his first move for the aging defenseman. 

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The optics of a player refusing to come to Buffalo, in spite of the Sabres having the best record in the NHL since early December, is another black eye to the franchise. The comments of former GM Kevyn Adams regarding  no palm trees and high taxes has been hard to shake, but the success of the club over the last two months has done wonders to revitalize the pride in the organization.  

The fault on this situation lies at the feet of Kekalainen, who over the last 48 hours has been connected to a pair of blockbuster acquisitions; Blues center Robert Thomas and Parayko. The Sabres GM should have been able with St. Louis’s permission to suss out whether Parayko was willing to come to Buffalo before the news got out that a deal in principle had been agreed upon. Like his previous stint in Columbus, the Sabres are on many player’s no-trade lists, so finding out their willingness to come to Buffalo or finding players that have no-trade protection should be something he is used to. 

Buffalo now has less than 24 hours before the deadline to make another move, and based on his rumored trade targets this week, Kekalainen is looking to take a big swing.   

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